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9 Market Power and Monopoly Introduction 9 Chapter Outline 9.1 Sources of Market Power 9.2 Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.3 Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.4 How a Firm with Market Power Reacts to Market Changes 9.5 The Winners and Losers from Market Power 9.6 Governments and Market Power: Regulation, Antitrust, and Innovation 9.7 Conclusion Introduction 9 In the real world, there are very few examples of perfectly competitive industries. Firms often have market power, or an ability to influence the market price of a product. The most extreme example is a monopoly, or a market served by only one firm. • A monopolist is the sole supplier (and price setter) of a good in a market. Firms with market power behave in different ways from those in perfect competition. Sources of Market Power 9.1 The key difference between perfect competition and a market structure in which firms have pricing power is the presence of barriers to entry, or factors that prevent entry into the market with large producer surplus. • Normally, positive producer surplus in the long run will induce additional firms to enter the market until it is driven to zero. • The presence of barriers to entry means that firms in the market may be able to maintain positive producer surplus indefinitely. Sources of Market Power 9.1 Extreme Scale Economies: Natural Monopoly One common barrier to entry results from a production process that exhibits economies of scale at every quantity level • Long-run average total cost curve is downward sloping; diseconomies never emerge. Results in a natural monopoly: • It’s more efficient for a single firm to produce the entire industry output. • Splitting output across multiple firms raises the average cost of production. ‒ An example is a production process with the following total cost structure: 100 TC 100 10Q ATC 10 Q What are some industries that might exhibit continuously declining average total costs as output increases? Sources of Market Power 9.1 Switching Costs Another barrier to entry results from the presence of consumers’ switching costs, which can result from • brand-related opportunity costs (e.g., preferred status on an airline). • technology constraints (e.g., software compatibility issues between Apple and Microsoft Windows–based operating systems). • search costs (e.g., health insurance plans). Some goods have characteristics that make them network goods. • A good whose value to each consumer increases with the number of other consumers of the product What are some network goods? ‒ Telecommunications ‒ Computer operating systems Sources of Market Power 9.1 Product Differentiation For most noncommodity markets, consumers may not treat products from different firms as perfect substitutes • Example: Burger King and Chipotle compete for fast-food customers, but their products are highly differentiated. How? Product differentiation refers to imperfect substitutability across varieties of a product. Sources of Market Power 9.1 Absolute Cost Advantages or Control of Key Inputs Many production processes rely on scarce inputs (e.g., natural resource products). • Example: Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company) maintains control over a vast oil supply with relatively low extraction costs. In other circumstances, firms may develop absolute cost advantages by engaging in long-term contracts with intermediate suppliers. • Apple has developed this type of relationship with Foxconn, a Chinese company that assembles many of Apple’s products. Sources of Market Power 9.1 Government Regulation A final important barrier is government regulation that limits entry to a market. • Examples: ‒ Patents ‒ Licensing requirements (e.g., medical board certification) ‒ Prohibition of competition (e.g., U.S. Postal Service) Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 A true monopolist faces the market demand curve: • There are no competing firms in this market. • Price is not fixed; the only way to sell more of a product is to lower the price. How does this differ from perfect competition? ‒ Perfectly competitive firms can sell as much as they want at the market price. Other market structures associated with downward-sloping demand: • Oligopoly is a market structure in which a few competitors operate (e.g., the automobile industry) • Monopolistic competition is a market structure with a large number of firms selling differentiated products (e.g., the fast food industry) ‒ In these structures, the demand curve facing a given firm depends on the production decisions of other firms—strategic behavior, discussed further in the next chapter. Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Marginal Revenue In perfect competition, the demand curve facing an individual firm is horizontal, and marginal revenue is equal to price. If a firm has market power, the demand curve for its product(s) will have a downward slope. What does this imply for the shape of the marginal revenue curve? ‒ It must also be downward sloping. Consider the production decisions of Durkee-Mower, Inc., a Massachusetts firm that makes Marshmallow Fluff. • Has had a dominant market position since the 1920s • Table 9.1 shows how price and marginal revenue are related to the quantity of Fluff produced. Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Marginal revenue is not equivalent to price for a firm facing a downward- sloping demand curve. Why is this the case? ‒ When a firm produces more of a product, the price for all of its products in the marketplace falls. • This occurs because we are considering a specific market (time and place); decisions are not sequential, so firms cannot price-discriminate. • Price discrimination is a pricing strategy in which firms with market power charge different prices to different customers based on their willingness to pay. Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Marginal revenue is not equivalent to price for a firm facing a downward- sloping demand curve. Marginal revenue is the change in total revenue associated with an increase in output, which is composed of two parts Two components for a firm with market power 1. Increase in total revenue associated with an increase in sales 2. Decrease in total revenue associated with the fall in market price for all previously produced units of output Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Figure 9.1 Understanding Marginal Revenue Price Revenue lost from increasing output Revenue unchanged x P1 A y Revenue gained from P2 increasing output B C Demand Quantity Q1 Q2 Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 The two opposing effects on marginal revenue of an increase in production by a monopolist can be examined mathematically: 1. The additional revenue from selling one more unit at market price DRevenue = P 2. The fall in revenue associated with a decline in market price for all units produced DP DRevenue = ´Q DQ Combining these effects gives the equation for marginal revenue: DP MR = P + ´Q DQ Market Power and Marginal Revenue 9.2 Consider what the equation for marginal revenue means DP Consider a linear demand curve ( D Q is constant) The inverse demand curve is given by P = a - b Q ; therefore: P P MR P Q a bQ Q a bQ bQ a 2bQ Q Q MR a 2bQDP MR = P + ´Q DQ Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 How to Maximize Profit Firms with market power are still assumed to maximize profits. • However, unlike in perfect competition, production decisions influence price. MR ¹ P How much will firms choose to produce? • They will engage in production until MR = MC Will a monopolist produce more or less than the aggregate production in an identical perfectly competitive industry? ‒ LESS! Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 Profit Maximization: A Graphical Approach Consider the market for iPads; assume that the marginal cost of production for Apple is constant at $200 per unit. There are three steps to determining the profit-maximizing quantity of production: 1. Derive the marginal revenue curve from the demand curve. 2. Find the output quantity at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost. 3. Determine the profit-maximizing price by locating the point on the demand curve at the optimal quantity level. Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 Figure 9.3 How a Firm with Market Power Maximizes Profit Price ($/iPad) Profit is maximized when marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost. P * = $600 200 MC D 0 Q* = 80 Quantity of iPads MR (millions) Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 Profit Maximization: A Mathematical Approach Consider again the market for iPads. The marginal cost of production for Apple is constant at $200 per unit. Now suppose demand is given by Q = 200-0.2P where quantity is measured in millions and price in dollars. How do we determine the profit-maximizing price–quantity combination that Apple should choose? 1. Derive the marginal revenue curve from the demand curve. 2. Find the output quantity for which marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost. 3. Determine the profit-maximizing price by locating the point on the demand curve at the optimal quantity level. Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 Profit Maximization: A Mathematical Approach 1. Derive the marginal revenue curve from the demand curve. Q = 200-0.2P 0.2PQPQ 200 1,000 5 This is a linear demand curve, so marginal revenue takes the form MR a 2 bQ 1,000 10 Q Profit Maximization for a Firm with Market Power 9.3 2. Find the output quantity for which marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost. For this step, simply set the equation for marginal revenue equal to $200 and solve for quantity. * MR MC 1,000 10Q 200 Q 80 million 3.
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